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TWA Flight 800 Memorial Unveiled
Sun Jul 14, 5:29 PM ET
By ERIC TUCKER, Associated
Press Writer
SHIRLEY, N.Y. (AP) - Relatives and friends of
the 230 people killed in the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 met on a
wind-whipped bluff Sunday to dedicate a permanent memorial to the
victims.
"I hope this special day finds you a little
stronger, a little happier, a little more secure in the faith that
those who live on in our hearts are never truly gone," Gov. George
Pataki told the hundreds gathered at Smith Point Park on Long
Island's south shore.
The bluff is the nearest point of land to where the plane went
down July 17, 1996, and overlooks a beach where debris washed
ashore. The black granite memorial, designed by architect David
Busch, has a gray wave and 230 gray doves on one side and the
names of the victims inscribed on the other.
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"It brings back some memories — not easy ones, but the ones I
don't want to forget," said Burt James, 45, whose niece, Rebecca
Olsen, 20, of Macon, Ga., died in the crash.
The Paris-bound Boeing 747 exploded in a fireball at 13,700
feet, minutes after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board (
news -
web sites) ruled two years ago that an explosion in the center
fuel tank caused the aircraft to disintegrate in flight. It said
vapors in the nearly-empty tank probably were ignited by a spark
in wiring.
The FBI (
news -
web sites) concluded in a separate criminal investigation that
there was no evidence a bomb or missile destroyed the plane. |
